Date:            11 February 2004

National strategy for Informal Settlement Upgrade on its way, says Mabandla 

Given the successes experienced and the challenges faced over the past ten years in providing housing to South Africa’s people the Department of Housing has taken stock of its position and is seeking ways to improve on past successes and meet its current  challenges. 

An important action in this regard is to ensure that the goal of the Department of Housing, which is to ensure the creation of sustainable human settlements in South Africa, is achieved.  This goal differs from that used during the first ten years of Democracy in that it focuses on improving the quality of both the house provided and also the quality of the broader settlement environment., the National Housing Minister Mrs. Brigitte Mabandla said today (11 Feb.) in Oslo, Norway. 

Mrs. Mabandla addressed a seminar on human settlements entitled: The Challenges of urban Poverty and Slum Eradication. The seminar was jointly organized by the Norwegian Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Regions and the Ministry of Environment as a national event in preparation of the Commission on Sustainable Development 12^th session (CSD 12) in April this year in the USA. Minister Mabandla was the only foreign minister invited to address this key seminar. This honour was bestowed on her in recognition of the achievements the South African Government had in housing the poor over the last ten years.

“The subsidy will remain an important mechanism by which beneficiaries receive housing assistance. We will continue targeting the poorest of the poor. As Government strengthens we are committed to improving the lives of our people in informal settlements. W will be developing a national strategy in this regard. Our programme will seek to meet the millennium development goals and make a significant contribution to the reduction of 100 million slum dwellers worldwide by 2015/2020.  

“This approach will form part of the Department’s goal of creating sustainable human settlements. A goal that will require a far more holistic perspective of the housing sector in South Africa, that not only includes informal settlements and subsidy based housing. 

“Besides focussing on improving the physical nature of settlements the Department will also take broader cross cutting issues into account. 

“The experiences of South Africa in dealing with poverty are not unique and have resonance with other African countries dealing with similar development issues in a rapidly expanding urban landscape. The rate of urbanisation in Africa is at an average of four percent per annum. However, this urbanisation is not accompanied by sustainable economic growth, which means that populations are more insecure and hence more likely to move to find economic opportunities.  

“Amongst the challenges in providing housing is the access to affordable credit. Lack of access to housing finance for black low and middle-income earners falling outside of the safety net of the current subsidy also needs to be addressed. Government is, therefore, working with the financial sector to address the need to extend housing credit to low-income households,” Mabandla said.  

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